Cast & Creative

Cast

RENÉE FLEMING

Margaret Johnson

Renée Fleming is one of the most highly-acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. In 2013, President Obama awarded her the US National Medal of Arts. Winner of four Grammy® awards, Renée has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for HM Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

Renée earned a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the 2018 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Her new album Renée Fleming: Broadway was released in September by Decca. She is heard on the soundtracks of the 2018 Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and she provided Julianne Moore’s singing voice for the film Bel Canto, released this fall.

As Artistic Advisor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Renée spearheads a collaboration with the National Institutes of Health focused on music, health, and neuroscience. Among her awards are Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, and Honorary Membership in the Royal Academy of Music. www.reneefleming.com.

DOVE CAMERON

Clara Johnson

Dove Cameron will next be seen starring as Cher in the Off-Broadway production of Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, The Musical produced by The New Group and in Netflix’s Dumplin’ with Jennifer Aniston. Next year, Dove lends her voice to Sony’s animated feature Angry Birds 2, alongside Rachel Bloom, Sterling K. Brown, and Awkwafina. The film is set for release on September 20, 2019.

Most recently, Dove completed production on Disney’s live-action film Descendants 3, which is set for release in the summer of 2019. The film follows the teenage children of classic Disney villains. Dove originated the role of Mal, Maleficent’s daughter, in 2015’s Descendants. Last year’s sequel Descendants 2 drew the biggest cable number since the original and was the most-watched telecast among kid cable TV networks in total viewers (8.6 million).

Dove also currently voices Spider-Gwen in the animated film Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, which premiered simultaneously on Disney Channel and Disney XD. She is set to return in the forthcoming Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts.

Dove is perhaps best known for playing the dual role as both title characters in Disney’s Liv and Maddie for four seasons. Her performance garnered a 2018 Daytime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Performer in a Children’s, Preschool Children’s or Educational and Informational Program.

Dove has appeared in Marvel’s Agents of Shield on ABC. She also appeared on NBC’s Hairspray Live!, as Amber von Tussle, and in the film Barely Lethal with Hailee Steinfeld, Jessica Alba and Samuel L. Jackson.

Distinguished soprano Marie McLaughlin has enjoyed more than three decades of performance at the highest international level. Over that time, she has collaborated with some of the world’s greatest conductors including such legends as the late Leonard Bernstein and Giuseppe Sinopoli, as well as Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink and Sir Antonio Pappano. A wide repertoire of core roles took McLaughlin around the world at an early age including to the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, and the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. Her substantial discography includes many of those roles including Zerlina with Sir Neville Marriner for Philips, Despina with James Levine for Deutsche Grammophon as well as Micaëla and Violetta under Bernard Haitink.

Key roles in today’s repertory include Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) which has been heard at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, at the Salzburg and Ravinia Festivals and at the Metropolitan Opera, La Ciesca (Gianni Schicci) at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival, Madam Larina (Eugene Onegin) at Teatro Regio di Torino, Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Lille, Despina (Cosi fan tutte) at Scottish Opera and the Spoleto Festival, Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mrs Grose (Turn of the Screw) at Madrid’s Teatro Real, and Miss Jessel at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden in the highly-acclaimed production by the late Luc Bondy, conducted by Daniel Harding and released on DVD by BelAir Classique.

Equally at ease in contemporary repertoire, Marie McLaughlin has recently created the characters of Lilian Disney in Philip Glass’ The Perfect American at Madrid’s Teatro Real, subsequently in performance at the Brisbane Festival, Mother Needham in Iain Bell’s The Harlot’s Progress at Theater an der Wien, and Abigail Simpson in the world premiere of Julian Grant’s The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare for Boston Lyric Opera.

Last season’s highlights included Meg Page in Robert Carsen’s production of Falstaff for the Royal Opera House under Nicola Luisotti, Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw for Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden, and Older Woman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight for Scottish Opera. This season Marie McLaughlin makes her first appearance as Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, and creates the role of Annie Chapman in Iain Bell’s new commission – Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel – for English National Opera.

Workshop credits include: Holly Martens in The Third Man (Vienna), Electra in Starlight Express (The Other Palace), Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore (Old Vic, vocal ensemble in Love Never Dies

Pantomimes: Dick Whittington in Dick Whittington (The Birmingham Hippodrome, 2010), Prince Charming in Cinderella (The New Victoria Theatre, Woking 2013), Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk (The New Wimbledon Theatre, 2017).

Cast Recordings include:Departure Lounge The Musical, The In-Between - A New Musical, Working - The Musical.

Concept Recordings include:Self Taught; Still Learning (The Music of Chris Passey), The Music Box: The Music & Songs of Gareth Peter Dicks.

Liam was also on The Voice Series 2 were he had all four coaches turn for him and he battled it out on Will.i.am’s Team through the series.

He was also recently on BBC’s Eurovision You Decide with the Song “Astronaut".

Celinde regularly performs in concerts and her credits include:Disney in Concert (Amsterdam) and Musicals in Concert (Amsterdam). Celinde has recently performed in concerts in London (Royal Albert Hall/Cadogan Hall), Prague, Barcelona, Holland and Tokyo.

Theatre credits: Lula Buffington/Almeta in Violet (Charing Cross Theatre), Woman 2 in Putting It Together (Hope Mill Theatre), Marta in Company (Aberdeen Arts Centre), Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre), Clara Brown in Ghost (UK Tour), Swing in Show Boat (New London Theatre), Greek Chorus in A Feast Of The Gods (Almeida).

Workshops: Repertory Company in From Page To Stage, Wurca 1 in Qu4rter, Nadia in F**KED in Marrakech, Mamie Till in Rosa.

Credits whilst training: Hattie in Kiss Me Kate, Marian Anderson, First Lady Suit, Ed in Lockhard The Musical (Workshop), Celeste #2 in Sunday In The Park With George, Celia in As You Like It, Rose in Dancing At Lughnasa, Laurey in Oklahoma.

Training: Guildford School of Acting on the BA Musical Theatre course. Before graduating in July 2009, she made her professional and West End debut as Tracy Turnblad in HAIRSPRAY at the Shaftesbury Theatre. She went on to play the role to great acclaim until the end of its successful run in London.

Further West End credits include: Pat in the original cast of Kinky Boots (Adelphi Theatre), Ensemble in Wicked (Apollo Victoria), and Factory Girl/Cover Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables (Queens Theatre).

Her other credits include: Val/Cover Kelly in the National Tour of Fat Friends (UK Tour), and Fairy Formidable in Beauty and the Beast (Kings Lynn Corn Exchange).

Television credits include: Louise (semi-regular) in Girlfriends, The Paul O’Grady Show, Strictly Come Dancing, and was the winning contestant on The Weakest Link (West End Christmas Celebrity Special).

Other credits include: workshop performances at The National Theatre, Corcadorca, Theatre Royal Stratford East and soloist with orchestras such as The RTE Concert Orchestra and The Oxford Philharmonic.

RHONA MCGREGOR

Ensemble

After gaining an MA in Music Performance from the University of Southampton, Rhona trained at the Guildford School of Acting, where she received the Professional Development Award.

Theatre includes:The Assassination of Katie Hopkins (Theatr Clwyd), The Invisible Man (Queens Theatre Hornchurch), Fiddler On The Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre), Moving Stories, Much Ado About Nothing and the original cast of War Horse (National Theatre), One Man, Two Guv'nors (Theatre Royal Haymarket, UK and International tour), Allegro and A Christmas Carol (Southwark Playhouse), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Sherman Cymru), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arts Theatre), Love Story and James and the Giant Peach (Octagon Theatre, Bolton), Silly Kings and The Passion (National Theatre Wales), The Importance of Being Earnest (New Wolsey Theatre), The Odyssey and Alice Through the Looking Glass (London Bubble), The Erpingham Camp (Hydrocracker & Brighton Festival), Privates on Parade (West Yorkshire Playhouse & Birmingham Rep), Hamlet (Stafford Festival), Animal Farm and The Nutcracker (Theatre Royal Bath), The Jungle Book and Arabian Nights (Watermill Theatre), Mack & Mabel (Criterion Theatre, UK tour and Watermill Theatre).

Television includes:Grandpa in My Pocket, The Passion - It Has Begun, Arrows of Desire.

Film include:Self Help: A Serial Killer's Guide to Life, The Gospel of Us.

Creative

CRAIG LUCAS

Writer

Plays:Missing Persons, Reckless, Blue Window, Prelude to a Kiss, God's Heart, The Dying Gaul, Stranger, Prayer For My Enemy, The Singing Forest, Ode To Joy, I Was Most Alive With You, Death of The Republic.

Longtime Companion won the Sundance Audience Award. The Secret Lives of Dentists won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay.

Lucas has been a Pulitzer finalist, won 3 Obie awards (one for his direction of Saved and

Destroyed and 2 for the plays Prelude to a Kiss and Small Tragedy); he received three Tony nominations; he is also the recipient of the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Madge Evans-Sidney Kingsley Award, the Laura Pels/PEN Mid-career Award, Greenfield Prize, LAMBDA Literary Award, Hull-Warriner Award, Flora Roberts Award, Steinberg/ACTA Best Play Award (for The Singing Forest) and he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation & the NEA.

ADAM GUETTEL

Composer

Adam Guettel is a composer/lyricist living in New York City. His latest show, Millions is nearing production. He is writing a musical adaptation of Days of Wine and Roses with playwright Craig Lucas. He recently scored the Aaron Sorkin Broadway adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. His musical, The Light In the Piazza (cast album on Nonesuch Records), with a book by Craig Lucas, premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater in April 2005 and went on to receive six 2005 Tony Awards including two for Mr. Guettel – Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations and a Grammy nomination for best cast recording.The Light In the Piazza also received five Drama Desk Awards, including two for Mr Guettel -- Best Music, and Best Orchestrations. He wrote music and lyrics for Floyd Collins, which received the 1996 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical and earned Mr. Guettel the Obie Award for Best Music. Saturn Returns (recorded by Nonesuch as Myths and Hymns) was produced in an extended run at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in 1998. Accolades for Mr. Guettel include the Stephen Sondheim Award (1990), the ASCAP New Horizons Award (1997), and the American Composers Orchestra Award (2005). He received an honorary doctorate from Lehman College in 2007.

DANIEL EVANS

Director

Daniel Evans was born in South Wales and trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2016, Daniel was appointed Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre following some seven years as the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres.

In his opening Festival 2017 at Chichester he directed Forty Years On, Fiddler on the Roof and James Graham's Quiz, which transferred to the West End in April 2018. For Festival 2018 he directed Me and My Girl and Flowers for Mrs Harris.

At Sheffield, his work as a director included Show Boat, Flowers for Mrs Harris (both were joint winners of the Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards 2016),The Effect, Anything Goes, The Sheffield Mysteries, Oliver! (Best Regional Production, WhatsOnStage Awards 2014), This Is My Family (Best Musical Production, UK Theatre Awards 2013), An Enemy of the People, Racing Demon, Othello,Macbeth, My Fair Lady (Best Regional Production, WhatsOnStage Awards 2013) and TheFull Monty (Best Touring Production, UK Theatre Awards). As an actor, Daniel appeared in Company, ThePride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest, which transferred to the Old Vic Theatre, London. Sheffield Theatres won The Stage's Regional Theatre of the Year Award for an unprecedented two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014, and again in 2016.

Daniel's West End productions include:Quiz (Noël Coward Theatre), Show Boat (New London Theatre: 2017 Olivier Award nomination for Best Musical Revival), The Full Monty (Noël Coward Theatre) and American Buffalo with Damian Lewis, John Goodman and Tom Sturridge (Wyndham's Theatre).

Daniel is also a double Olivier Award-winning actor. His theatre work includes Henry V, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure For Measure and Cymbeline for theRoyal Shakespeare Company; Cardiff East, Peter Pan, Troilus and Cressida, Candide, The Merchant of Venice for the National Theatre; Merrily We Roll Along (Olivier Award) andGrand Hotelfor the Donmar Warehouse; Ghosts (English Touring Theatre); Other People, Cleansed, Where Do We Live and 4.48 Psychosis for the Royal Court; Total Eclipse andSunday in the Park with George (Olivier Award, Tony nomination) at the Menier ChocolateFactory, the West End and on Broadway.

Television credits include:The Passion, Doctor Who, The Virgin Queen, Spooks, Love in a Cold Climate, Great Expectations, Daniel Deronda and To The Ends of the Earth. Filmcredits include Les Misérables.

Daniel is a Fellow of the Guildhall School and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in 2012. Daniel is also co-founder of Act For Change. He was Chair of the Selection Panel for the RTST Director Award 2016.

KIMBERLY GRIGSBY

Conductor

Kimberly Grigsby is a New York based music director, conductor and pianist.

In London, she served as Music Supervisor for Here Lies Love (2014), Spring Awakening (2009), and Caroline, or Change (2006).

Other collaborations include:My Life Is A Fairy Tale and Orphan of Zhao by Stephin Merritt, Telaio: Desdemona by Susan Botti, and the premiere of Jeanine Tesori's The Lion, The Unicorn and Me for Washington National Opera.

Ms. Grigsby holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and Manhattan School of Music.

ROBERT JONES

Designer

Trained at Central School of Art and Design.

More than 30 West End productions includes:The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, When We Are Married, Ragtime, The Sound of Music (also Toronto, UK tour, Tokyo, China, South Africa and Australia), Much Ado About Nothing, The Dance of Death (also Australia), Benefactors, Calendar Girls (also Toronto, Australia and UK tour), A Chorus of Disapproval, The Full Monty, Heroes (and Los Angeles), Cyrano de Bergerac, The Wizard of Oz (also Toronto, Australia and US tour) and Rock and Roll (and Broadway).

As an associate artist of the RSC, credits include:Pentecost,Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Herbal Bed, Jubilee, Sejanus, Eastward Ho, Twelfth Night, Henry VIII (and New York) and The Winter's Tale.

Other theatre includes:Pericles (New York), Look Back In Anger, Noises Off (also West End and Broadway), The Playboy of the Western World and The Motherf***er with the Hat (National Theatre), The Vote,Lobby Hero, The Physicists,St Joan, A Voyage Round My Father, Committee, City of Angels and Black Comedy (Donmar Warehouse), Scenes From a Marriage (St James Theatre), On the Town (ENO and Chatelet Paris), The Mercy Seat, Filumena, Ruined and The Late Henry Moss (Almeida), Strife, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me,The Music Man, Hay Fever, Taken at Midnight (and Haymarket), Mack and Mabel,Kiss Me Kate (and Old Vic), Cyrano de Bergerac (Chichester) and Twelfth Night (Young Vic).

He has been nominated for four Olivier Awards, International Opera and Evening Standard Awards and won a Drama-Logue Award and Dora Award.

BRIGITTE REIFFENSTUEL

Costume Designer

Brigitte Reiffenstuel's costumes have been seen on stages all over the world, for the past twenty years. Her work has taken her to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, London's Royal Opera House, La Scala Milan, Chicago Lyric, the Bastille in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and many more besides.

Born in Munich, Brigitte moved to London to study at the London College of Fashion, and St. Martin's School of Art, where she attended classes led by the acclaimed illustrator Howard Tangue. Whilst her initial focus was in fashion, and having briefly worked as a stylist, she would soon gravitate towards costume design.

In 2014, Brigitte designed the costumes for the acclaimed Kate Bush Before the Dawn concerts in London. Her career continues to expand into the wider fields of The Musical and Theatre.

Brigitte has been nominated for a number of prestigious awards, she was given the Oscar della Lirica for 'Achievement in Costume Design' presented at the international Opera Awards, and in 2015, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding costume design. Brigitte lives in London.

MARK HENDERSON

Lighting Designer

Was the recipient of the 1992, 1995, 2000, 2002,2010 and 2016 Laurence Olivier Awards for Lighting Design, the 2013 and 2014 Whatsonstage lighting design award, he was awarded a Tony in 2006 and has also received a Welsh BAFTA.

Has lit extensively for all the major theatre, opera and dance companies in the UK and has lit over 80 West End productions notably Chitty Bang Bang Chitty, The Iceman Cometh, The Judas Kiss, Copenhagen, Democracy, Hamlet, The Real Thing (all also on Broadway), The Sound of Music, Our House, Up for Grabs, Grease is the Word, West Side Story, Spend Spend Spend, Neville's Island, Follies, Passion, Enron, All My Sons, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Sweeney Todd, American Buffalo, The Bodyguard, Gypsy, Funny Girl, The Girl From the North Country.

Mark has lit over 80 productions for the Royal National Theatre and over 30 on Broadway.

Work in opera includes productions for ENO, The Royal Opera, WNO, Opera North, Glyndebourne.

Dance productions includes work for LCDT, The Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Northern Ballet, SWRB, Rambert Dance Company, English National Ballet (Akram Khan's Giselle).

In 2014 Mark designed the lighting for the Kate Bush live show Before the Dawn.